The Bobinski family is all alone in a field of garbage left over from Boonstock. They’re picking up as much litter as they can, but they’re not complaining.
"We really enjoyed Boonstock and we live close in the area." says Michele Bobinski. "We want to make it pretty again, because all this stuff goes to our land."
Deflated kiddy pools, empty liquor bottles, lawnchairs, clothing, and pretty much anything else you can think of. Someone has even left a camper behind.
Boonstock organizers say an extra 4,000 guests this year produced a bit more garbage than they expected.
"There’s always a bit of trash, and this year we did experience growth with the festival so we were a little overwhelmed with the garbage left behind." says Boonstock Festival Organizer Colin Kobza.
In an attempt to get the site cleaned up as soon as possible, Kobza is asking for volunteers to come out to Gibbons this weekend.
In exchange, they’ll get weekend passes for next year’s Boonstock. He doesn’t want to increase ticket costs to combat garbage.
"We’re not at the point at taking a deposit for a cleanup fee." Kobza says. "It’s more on an integrity thing where coming out and having fun but clean up your mess."
As for the unsightly mess, the town of Gibbons hasn’t received any complaints. They’ve seen it before, just not this much of it.
"The mess in this area has always been part of this process unfortunately but Colin and his crew have always been really good at cleaning this up quickly as possible." says Hank Taylor, Gibbons Town Manager.
Kobza says garbage will be the focus in planning next year’s Boonstock.
"There was a four hour lineup to get out of here, if people would have just taken 20 or 30 minutes to clean up their square it would have made it a lot easier."
Cleanup will happen Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 until 4:00 with a free barbeque afterwards for volunteers.
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